---
title: Did the husband know the buffalo was the servant? — Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, par… · tree and pragmatics
description: Did the husband know the buffalo was the servant? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 1170 «Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, part 36: the buffalo dies, the wife poisons herself, and a queen is promised a daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questi
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, part 36: the buffalo di…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Did the husband know the buffalo was the servant?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** husband, buffalo · **What happens:** know, be · **To what, where:** servant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 1170 «Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, part 36: the buffalo dies, the wife poisons herself, and a queen is promised a daughter» of the books course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1170-pg3027-part36/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1170-pg3027-part36:t4:1
# text = Did the husband know the buffalo was the servant?
1	Did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	buffalo	buffalo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past · do-support | the husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the buffalo | the servant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, his wife told him only at dawn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1170-pg3027-part36:t4:o1:1
# text = Nope, his wife told him only at dawn
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | his wife |  | him *= he* |  | dawn |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yeah, his parents told him early on

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1170-pg3027-part36:t4:o2:1
# text = Yeah, his parents told him early on
1	Yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	on	on	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | his parents |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nope, nobody told him till after

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1170-pg3027-part36:t4:o3:1
# text = Nope, nobody told him till after
1	Nope	nope	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	till	till	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell after** *speech: assert* | past | nobody |  | him *= he* |  |  | till *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, he knew at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1170-pg3027-part36:t4:o4:1
# text = Yes, he knew at once
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, par…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1170-pg3027-part36/t3/)
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